


Magic and Romance

by Sproid



Category: due South
Genre: A drop of magic, A fair amount of romance, A sprinkling of silliness, And quite a few hugs, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 13:06:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sproid/pseuds/Sproid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“That’s silly,” the girl decided. “Love potions don’t work like that. Not <i>real</i> ones.”</p><p>“Oh? How do they work then?”</p><p>“They help you <i>find</i> the person you love,” she told Fraser. “You have to do the rest yourself.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic and Romance

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [DesireeArmfeldt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesireeArmfeldt/pseuds/DesireeArmfeldt) in the [DS_C6D_Prompt_Meme](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DS_C6D_Prompt_Meme) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Sex Pollen:
> 
> I didn't know if it was day or night  
> I started kissing everything in sight  
> But when I kissed the cop down on 34th and Vine  
> He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine
> 
> ....and then hilarity ensues.
> 
> \--
> 
>  **Author's note:** I'm not sure if this is entirely what the prompter wanted, but it's what came to mind when I saw "love potion" and "kissed the cop", so... Enjoy!

There wasn’t a whole lot that Ray liked less than working on a Saturday. This Saturday was one he was especially pissed off with though, what with it being Fraser-free, which was sort of Ray’s fault. Fraser had offered to come in and keep him company, but Ray had turned him down. He wasn’t about to drag Fraser in on the weekend just because Ray had happened to get the short straw this time around when it came to the Saturday shift. That guy worked far too much as it was; Ray wasn’t going to be responsible for working him even harder, no matter how much he would’ve liked the company.

So anyway, here he was doing paperwork, missing Benny’s presence on the other side of his desk, and trying not to watch the clock too obviously as the hands ticked way-too-slowly past four-thirty. Just another half-hour until he could leave, maybe twenty minutes if he was lucky and stayed under Welsh’s radar.

“Vecchio!”

Crap.

Welsh stuck his head out of the office. “Get your ass in here, Detective.”

Ray spared a mournful look for the clock, resigned himself to not going home anywhere near on time, and stepped into Welsh’s office.

“You got something for me, sir?” 

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Welsh re-took his seat. “Multiple reports of a Canadian, approximately six feet tall, dark hair, wandering around the streets performing -” He paused to pick up a piece of paper from his desk, and read, “‘various acts of chivalry and kindness while in an intoxicated state, followed by a white wolf’.”

Ray blinked. “Fraser?”

“You know of any other Canadians in the neighbourhood who own white wolves, and offer to fix people’s cars when they’re drunk instead of busting them up?”

“Well, no, sir, but this is Fraser we’re talking about. He doesn’t drink!”

“Well something’s got him all riled up, and you’d better hope for his sake that it’s nothing stronger than alcohol. And if it is-” Welsh held up a forestalling hand - “I don’t want to know about it unless I absolutely have to. Just go pick him up before uniform do, alright?”

“Right, sir.” Ray paused on his way out. “Thank you, sir.”

Welsh waved him away. Ray grabbed his jacket and headed for the parking lot, wondering how this day had taken a turn for the surreal so quickly. And what the hell had gotten into Fraser to make him act like he was in an ‘intoxicated state’, because he knew Fraser, and if the guy was going to get drunk, there was no way he’d go out into public afterwards.

Nothing approaching a sensible explanation came to mind. Ray drove slightly faster than necessary, and figured he’d work it out when he saw Fraser.

\-- -- -- -- --

On Saturday morning, Fraser woke up ten minutes late, feeling sorry for himself. He allowed himself thirty seconds to lie there with his arm over his eyes, and then Dief came over to lick him thoroughly, at which point Fraser decided that seeing as his _wolf_ was trying to cheer him up, it was really time he got out of bed and out of the apartment. After all, he had errands to run.

Errands kept him busy until lunchtime, by which time his fridge and cupboards were fully stocked once more, his mending supplies were replenished, laundry done and ironed, and every speck of dust in his room - and the hallway outside - had been banished from its resting place. Then he sat at in his quiet, empty apartment, ate his soup and bread without really tasting it, and contemplated starting one of his new books this afternoon.

It really wasn’t that appealing.

“I hope Ray is having a more entertaining day,” he said to himself.

Dief looked up from his food-bowl and barked.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Fraser scolded. “And I have no reason to go to the station. Ray already told me that he wouldn’t be doing anything which required my help, and that I should enjoy my weekend. He seems to think I need the time off.”

With a huff, Dief went back to his food.

Sighing, Fraser got up to do the dishes. Ray was right; Fraser had slept for twelve hours last night, and the rest had definitely been appreciated. The thing was, as much as he’d been looking forward to the weekend, he’d more been looking forward to spending at least some of it with Ray. He’d much rather have the second than the first.

“Oh, this is ridiculous,” he muttered to himself. Throwing the drying-rag onto the side, he picked his jacket up and strode over to the door. “Dief, finish your lunch, we’re going for a walk. No, not to the station. I don’t know, I’ll decide on the way. Now, please, if it’s not too much trouble.”

The cool spring air was at least refreshing, the bright sunshine a little too much so for Fraser’s mood, but he felt it lifting his spirits a little. He was just tired, he told himself as they walked along. It was foolish to be so out of sorts; after all, he’d see Ray next week at work, and probably at the weekend following that.

Then he sighed, and admitted to himself that the real problem was that he’d let himself become far too attached to Ray, and now he was having to face the consequences of that. Not that ‘let’ was really the right word to use. It’s not as if he’d had a choice. For all that Ray never hid his annoyance or his anger, he also never hid his affection, showing himself in sarcasm and laugher and glares, in casual but not insignificant touches, depending on what Fraser had done in the five minutes prior. Ray was warm and honest, and Fraser had no idea how he was supposed to hold himself apart from that.

Dief barked, bringing Fraser out of his distracted state just before he could walk into a young child who he was certain had appeared from nowhere.

“Oh, excuse me,” he said, and took a step back so that he didn’t tower over her quite so much. “I’m afraid I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“I know,” she told him, and then gave him a very strange, very piercing look, of an intensity he would not have thought possible from someone under ten years old.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“No. But I can help you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re lonely.”

“I-” He stopped, and crouched down so he could look her in the eye. “Well, perhaps I am,” he admitted. What did it hurt, to admit it to this child? “Although I’m not sure how you know that, nor how you think you can help me.”

Her small hands dived into the pockets of her long coat, and after a moment one of them brought out a small bottle filled with a liquid as purple as her clothing. “Here,” she said, holding it out on an open palm.

“Perfume?” Fraser said doubtfully, and earned himself a swift rolling of the eyes. “Not perfume.”

“It’s a love potion.”

Fraser smiled, and shook his head. “Isn’t that a little unethical?” She cocked her head to one side, and looked puzzled. “Well,” Fraser explained, “I’m taken to understand that the way love potions tend to act is that one manages, by duplicitous methods - er, by being sneaky - to get the object of their affections to ingest a drop or two of the potion. At which point the person miraculously falls in love with the owner of the potion. I’ve never really been at ease with the idea.”

“That’s silly,” the girl decided. “Love potions don’t work like that. Not _real_ ones.”

“Oh? How do they work then?”

“They help you _find_ the person you love,” she told him. “You have to do the rest yourself.”

She was still holding out the bottle, and now that she’d explained it to him, she was looking at him like he had no reason not to take it.

“Well, thank you,” he said, and took it carefully from her.

“Oh, and sometimes they make you act a bit funny,” she added.

“Lovesick?” Fraser suggested, managing a smile, as he gave the bottle a shake and watched the bubbles settle. “How much do I owe you?”

There was silence. When he looked up, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

“How strange,” Fraser murmured. Dief looked as confused as he felt. “I wonder what’s in this. The purple would suggest violets, or perhaps rosemary, but there’s a pink tint to it as well. Hmm.” 

He unscrewed the lid, preparing to sniff it, but got rather more than he expected when a small cloud of purple enveloped him. When his vision cleared, half the liquid was gone, and he hastily recapped the bottle before any more could escape. That, he decided as he put it in his pocket, was enough of that.

“Well,” he said with a cough. “I think perhaps we should carry on with our walk before anything more untoward happens, don’t you?”

Dief sneezed several times and whined at Fraser’s pocket.

“I’m perfectly fine, Diefenbaker, it was just a child’s harmless concoction. Come on, we’ve not gone nearly far enough for some decent exercise yet.”

\-- -- -- -- -

“…And then he wished me pleasant day, and kissed my hand before he went to help Dorothy!”

“That he did, Rebecca,” Dorothy agreed, linking her arm with the other lady’s. “Carried all my shopping upstairs for me, and told me he hoped my hip got better soon. Then he kissed my hand, too! Oh, he was very charming. If I was younger -”

“And interested in men,” Rebecca interrupted with a glare.

“Well, that, too,” Dorothy agreed, patting the hand on her arm. “But if I was, I’d snap him up in an instant.”

Ray sighed. “Look, could you just tell me which way he went? It’s very important that I find him, before he starts trying to fight dragons or something.”

“Is he likely to do that, dear?”

“Usually, no. Today, I have no idea.”

The little old ladies conferred, and then decided that they’d seen him heading in the direction of the local shopping centre to see if anyone else needed help carrying their bags home.

“Thanks,” Ray told them, and left them to return to their adjoining apartments while he walked along the street with his eyes open for a crazy Mountie out to do good deeds on his day off. 

“What the hell are you up to, Fraser?” Ray muttered. From what he’d gathered so far, Fraser had spent the entirety of his afternoon helping people with whatever he could see needed doing. So far, that included rescuing three kittens, fixing two broken-down cars and three bicycles, helping one couple move the entirety of their furniture into their new apartment, and giving a lonely coffee-shop employee advice on how to approach the cute girl she liked - all the while handing out compliments to people on the streets as he went around. 

That wasn’t so bad, but Ray had spoken to twelve people who had received a hug after stopping for conversation, and a further seven of those who had got a kiss on the cheek as well (one of whom had been desperately trying to project a tough exterior but failing completely to hide their happy smile). And since when did Fraser go around hugging and kissing people he didn’t even know?! Ray had got a grand total of three hugs in all the time he’d known Fraser. 

Not that he was counting.

Or jealous.

Ray shoved his hands in his pockets and picked up the pace.

\-- -- -- -- --

The walk had definitely been a good idea. Fraser felt _wonderful_. The sun was out, and so it seemed were all of Chicago’s friendliest citizens. Here he’d been resigning himself to a quiet afternoon spent by himself, and instead he’d given, oh, more hugs than he could count and a few kisses - on the cheek, of course - to people who’d looked like they needed them, and got quite a few in return. And alright, none of them were the person he _really_ wanted to hug and kiss, but he was feeling much better than he’d done earlier, and he was sure it wouldn’t be long before Ray turned up.

Then from behind him he heard a familiar voice shout, “Fraser!”, and turned around to see Ray jogging towards him, lead by Dief.

“I wondered where you’d gone,” Fraser said, bending down to stroke Dief when he arrived. A few paces behind him, Ray’s shoes came into view. Fraser looked up to smile at him, and felt warmth spread through him when Ray smiled back, shaking his head and looked relieved. Fraser didn’t know what the relief was about, but the smile was making everything else fade into the background so he didn’t really care.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Ray told him. “You’re much harder to find when you’re not in red.” He extended a hand downwards. “You going to get up?”

Fraser took it, and then didn’t let go when he was standing, because Ray’s hand was warm around his slightly-chilled one, and he didn’t really want to let go of Ray now that he’d got him.

“Benny?” Ray said. Fraser focussed on his face, after he’d focussed on his own nose first.

“Yes, Ray?”

“You alright?”

There was a look of concern on Ray’s face that Fraser didn’t want to be there, and although Ray hadn’t let go of his hand either, it felt like he was still too far away. So Fraser took a step closer and nodded. “I’m fine, Ray.” This close, he could see Ray better, feel his warmth, know that he was the only recipient of Ray’s attention. He always liked that. “Very happy to see you,” he added.

“I’m happy to see you, too,” Ray assured him.

He didn’t look entirely reassured himself, though, so Fraser decided to carry on with the strategy that had been working well for him all afternoon. Only he knew Ray better than any of the people he’d met today, so he wrapped his arms around him properly, leaned in, and kissed him on the mouth. He meant it to be quick, but he ended up lingering when Ray’s startled sound was followed by a soft groan, and he felt Ray press closer to him for just a moment.

“Oh man,” Ray said dazedly when he pulled away, wriggling out of Fraser’s arms despite Fraser’s efforts to keep him there. Fraser missed him already. “Welsh was right. You’re definitely on something.”

“On something?” Fraser asked, trying not to be too upset by the fact that Ray seemed reluctant to kiss him.

“Drugs, Benny. Someone’s slipped you something.”

“Oh, no, Ray, I’m perfectly fine,” Fraser insisted.

“Really? You usually go around kissing everyone you see?”

“Well, I’ve wanted to kiss you for-”

“Benny.” Ray shut his eyes. Fraser stopped talking. “You’re not... Look, whatever’s in your system is gonna make you say some stupid stuff, OK? Just... try not to say it, you’ll thank yourself for you later.” 

“I’m not _on_ anything,” Fraser insisted. Dief barked. “What would you know about it?”

Dief nudged his nose against Ray’s hand, then against Fraser’s jacket pocket, and before Fraser could react, Ray had reached in and extracted the contents. He held up the half-empty bottle between them.

“Oh,” Fraser said.

\-- -- -- -- --

Getting Fraser back to the car proved easy once Ray let him put his arm through Ray’s, at which point all protests stopped and he chattered away almost like usual. On the one hand it was reassuring that Fraser was having no trouble walking, and wasn’t slurring his words or losing track of his thoughts, but on the other hand he seemed to have forgotten very quickly that he was under the influence of whatever was in the bottle which Ray had now confiscated.

He also didn’t seem to want to take his hand off Ray’s thigh once they got into the car. It wasn’t that Ray minded - he really, _really_ didn’t - but it sucked that Fraser wasn’t in his right mind when he was doing it. And it was going to kill Ray tomorrow, if Fraser didn’t remember; or worse, if he did remember, and regretted every moment of it.

Thinking aloud as he navigated Saturday rush-hour traffic, Ray said, “We’ll be laughed out of the surgery if I take you in and tell them you’re under the influence of a love potion. But I really don’t wanna just take you home and hope you’re OK. Any ideas, Benny?” He glanced over to find Fraser looking at him with heat in his eyes, a glimpse of tongue just disappearing. Ray swallowed. “Benny. _Benny_.”

“Yes, Ray?”

Ray sighed. “Don’t suppose you know any witches?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Ms Vedreen, I believe.”

“As in, Vedreen’s the Chemists? That little shop I got my cold medicine from last month? The owner is a witch?”

“Yes. Why do we need a witch, Ray? Can’t we just go home?”

The pleading tone in his voice drew Ray’s attention for a moment, and when he glanced over, Fraser was looking at him, a little lost and a lot longing, like he just wanted to curl up with him and hold on.

“Soon, Fraser,” Ray promised, and patted Fraser’s hand where it lay on his thigh. It seemed to calm him. “Soon.”

The shop was both open and empty when they arrived, which was a relief. As they waited by the counter, Fraser leaned forwards past Ray to point to something icky-looking in a jar, and then just sort of draped himself around Ray from behind while he explained its origins and medicinal properties. His arms looped around Ray’s so he could wave his hands in front of them both to demonstrate certain points, which Ray decided to listen to, otherwise he was going to concentrate on how nice it was to be held by Fraser, and that was so not something he would thank himself for later.

“Can I help you?” a voice said to their left.

Ray shuffled them both around to look at the lady who had appeared. With her smart but practical shirt and pants, and hair tied back in a bun, she didn’t look much like a witch, but what the hell did he know? 

“You Ms Vedreen?”

“I am,” she confirmed.

“Then I sure as hell hope so. My friend - the one doing the octopus impression right now -”

“Benton Fraser,” Fraser introduced himself, breath warm in Ray’s ear. “Very pleased to make your acquaintance. You have a lovely shop here.”

Ms Vedreen shook his proffered hand with a warm “Thank you,” and then turned her attention back to Ray, expression sharper now. “Your friend appears to be under the influence of something quite... powerful.”

“No kidding,” Ray muttered. “Ease up, Fraser,” he said, patting Fraser’s arm as best he could when his own were somewhat trapped.

“Must I, Ray?”

“Just for a second, Benny, I gotta get something out of my pocket.”

The second Ray had handed the bottle over to Ms Vedreen, Fraser’s arms closed around him again, and his head rested against the side of Ray’s with a sigh.

“You know what it is?” Ray asked.

“I have a suspicion,” she told him, and oh, Ray didn’t like the tone she said that with. “Give me a moment.”

Ray turned them to face the counter again, and waited impatiently as she swiftly transferred the liquid to a bottle with a dropper-top, then added it to various other liquids she drew from beneath the counter, making notes as she went. Every so often, Fraser would ask questions, but he was far less interested than he usually would be, apparently preferring to bury his nose in the gap between Ray’s collar and his neck and breathe in deeply. Ray would push him away, but he’d seen the hurt flash across Fraser’s face when he’d pulled away after the kiss, and he had no desire to be the cause of that expression again.

Eventually, Ms Vedreen looked up. “This is a dangerous thing to give to someone with a heart as big as his.”

“Dangerous?!” Ray exclaimed.

She held up a hand before he could go further. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s a love potion, of sorts, that’s all. There are no physical effects to this mixture. Your friend will come to no harm there.”

“What about emotionally?” Ray asked suspiciously.

She ignored him and spoke to Fraser instead. “Would you mind telling me where you got this from?”

In answer, Fraser just hummed against Ray’s neck. Ray nudged him gently in the side with an elbow, and reached awkwardly up to tap him on the side of the head. “Where’d you get the bottle from, Benny?”

“A girl gave it to me,” Fraser said.

When it became clear that was all he was going to offer, Ray prompted. “What did she look like?”

“Purple.”

“Purple? That’s all you got?”

“Yes. You smell good, Ray.”

“It’s alright,” Ms Vedreen said before Ray could try to get any more details out of him. “I know who he means. And believe me, I will be having very stern words with her.”

Usually, Ray would be demanding to have stern words of his own with whoever had messed around with his partner, but he still hadn’t gotten a satisfactory answer as to his partner’s health.

“Look, would you tell me what’s up with Fraser? What the hell does that stuff do anyway?”

Ms Vedreen hesitated.

“What?”

“To tell you could potentially be to give away things which your friend might not wish to reveal.”

Now it was Ray’s turn to hesitate, while Fraser held him more tightly and rumbled, “I don’t mind.”

That made up Ray’s mind. “Yeah, like you’re in a state to decide that. Alright,” he said to Ms Vedreen. “You promise me nothing bad is gonna happen to him?”

“He’s likely to be both verbally and physically affectionate until the effects wear off,” she told him. There was more than a hint of steel in her voice as she added, “How you choose to respond to that is up to you.”

Ray glared at her for the insinuation. “He’s my friend, and I’m a gentleman.” Sometimes. When he wanted to be. The urge came out more when he was around Fraser.

She looked at him, and Ray resisted the urge to close his eyes so she couldn’t see. Expression softening into sympathy, she nodded. “Then my advice to you is to take him home, look after him, and let him sleep it off.” A smile made its way onto her face. “And if you can manage it, make sure he eats a decent meal and drinks plenty, or he’ll have one hell of a headache in the morning.”

Ray sighed. “Alright. Thanks. Benny, you ready to go?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Feel like letting go of me? Just a little bit, until we get to the car, then I promise you can come back as long as you don’t make me crash the Riv, OK?”

“If you insist, Ray,” Fraser said reluctantly, and let his arms slip away from Ray. It was Ray who had to step away, though, and boy did he not want to do that.

“C’mon. Let’s get outta here.” Back home, where he could apparently look forward to fending off a touchy-feely Fraser, who wasn’t even going to understand _why_ Ray was doing it, and was gonna give him that puppy-dog eyed look all evening.

This was the last time Ray worked a Saturday, that was for sure.

\-- -- -- -- --

In the car, Fraser was forced to go without Ray’s warmth, or conversation, or even any glances. In contrast to the usual practices that Fraser would not object to at the moment, Ray kept his eyes on the road for the entire drive back, and while he didn’t object when Fraser snuck his hand over to his thigh again, he kept both of his own hands on the wheel. His responses to Fraser’s conversation were short, and his face was drawn in what looked like anger. Fraser didn’t know what he’d done, but he wished he could undo it and have his Ray back.

It was only when they were a few blocks from Ray’s house that Ray finally looked at him, and his tight expression vanished in an instant. “Ah, Benny,” he said, regret covering his features. His hand came down to cover Fraser’s, squeezing tight. “Don’t look like that, please? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I was just, y’know, thinking about things.”

Now he looked more like himself, if a little sad. Fraser shuffled over in his seat as far as he could. “What things, Ray?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Ray assured him, giving him a smile that Fraser couldn’t help but return. “So, what’re we having to eat tonight?”

“Whatever you want,” Fraser replied. “I don’t mind as long as we eat it together.”

The sadness deepened just for a moment, and Fraser frowned, but before he could ask Ray what he’d said, Ray said, “Pizza alright?”

“Pizza will be fine, Ray.”

They picked it up from Ray’s favourite pizza place on the way back. Well, Ray picked it up. Fraser stayed in the car with Dief and waited impatiently for Ray to come back, because as much as he loved Dief, stroking him wasn’t quite the same as touching Ray. 

The rest of the ride back to Ray’s only took a few minutes, but Fraser found his leg bouncing the entire time, and he couldn’t stop looking at Ray. It felt like far too long since they were in the chemists, where Fraser had been allowed to hold Ray, slim and warm against him. When they were back in Ray’s apartment though, he’d be allowed to do it again. Maybe that would stop Ray looking unhappy when he thought Fraser wasn’t looking.

Fraser’s hopes were dashed when they got inside Ray’s door though, and the first thing Ray did was set the pizza down on the table and then move around to the other side so it was between them. He hadn’t even taken his coat off.

“Oh, god, don’t look like that again,” Ray almost pleaded. 

Fraser ducked his head as he finished taking off his own jacket, and tried to hide how hurt he felt. Usually he managed that with ease, but tonight he was having trouble.

“Look, Benny, I just want to get some things straight before we sit down. I don’t know if you realise it, but you’ve got some kind of possibly-magic, definitely mind-altering drug swimming through your veins right now. You’re gonna feel like doing and saying all sorts of things that you don’t mean - hear me out,” he said, before Fraser could get a word out.

Fraser closed his mouth.

“I just want you to know, that you can say anything to me and I swear to you I won’t hold it against you, and come tomorrow we’ll forget about it all. But as for anything else, you should know right now that nobody’s clothes will be coming off, and that’s final. Ms Vedreen said you’d be sort of handsy - I don’t know how much attention you were paying when she said that - and I figure it’d be kinda mean to make you sit on the armchair all evening-”

Fraser looked at the lonely armchair, on which Dief was currently curled up, and took a step closer to Ray with a shiver.

“-I won’t make you do that, Benny,” Ray said hastily. “So you and me, we’ll sit on the sofa together, but you should know there are limits, and I’m sticking to them, and I’d _really_ appreciate it if you could try to remember to stick to them, too, OK?”

“I’m not out of my mind, Ray,” Fraser said reproachfully. “I don’t want to do anything which I haven’t wanted to do for quite some time now. I don’t know why you’re having such a problem with this.”

“Remember the part where you’re on a _mind-altering drug_ , Fraser?”

Fraser shrugged. “Of course. But I really don’t feel all that different, Ray.”

“Well you’re sure as hell acting different. Them’s the rules, Benny. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.”

Fraser had no desire to make Ray look more stressed, or conflicted. He just wanted to be touching him. “Alright, Ray. Can I come around the table now?”

Ray sighed, and rubbed a hand across his face. “No, Fraser. You can take the pizza, go sit on the sofa, put the tv on, and I’ll be over there in a minute.”

“Promise?”

A weak smile made its way to Ray’s face. “I promise, Fraser,” he said softly, and waved a hand over to the sofa. “Go. Sit. Eat.”

\-- -- -- -- --

In his bedroom, Ray took advantage of the few moments of privacy to pull himself together, and also to change his clothes. He didn’t bother to spend too long on the pulling himself together part. Fraser was going to sneak past whatever defences he put up anyway, especially if he kept on saying things like “I’ve wanted to do this for some time”.

Ray put it out of his mind, and threw his work-shirt towards the laundry basket. If Fraser was going to want to... snuggle, all evening, then Ray could at least do him the courtesy of not smelling like work, and of wearing something soft.

When Ray emerged with an old cashmere sweater on over an even older shirt that he hid whenever his ma came round, Fraser looked away from the hockey game, and his face lit up. “Ray! You’ve changed!”

“Enough that you don’t wanna hug me any more?” Ray asked, and wasn’t sure what he wanted the answer to be. Confusion flickered across Fraser’s face; in his flannel shirt, sitting by himself on Ray’s sofa, he looked far younger even than when Ray had seen him. It was as if without his leather jacket on, he had no protection against Ray’s unintentional jabs, and Ray mentally kicked himself. He was going to have to watch that.

“Sorry, Benny. I didn’t mean that.” Quickly, he crossed to the sofa, and squeezed Fraser’s shoulder as he went past. Even quicker, Fraser caught his hand, and wouldn’t let go. “Jeez, alright Benny, I’m not going anywhere,” Ray muttered, this time sure to let his affection through the gruffness. With a groan, he collapsed onto the sofa next to Fraser, leaving a scant inch of space between them that Fraser shuffled into before Ray had even finished settling. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

“You did say it was alright,” Fraser reminded him, and there was an almost-sly grin on his face that said he knew he was going to get away with it. There was no way Ray could even pretend to be annoyed.

“I did,” Ray agreed, and set their still-joined hands down on Fraser’s thigh. “Where’d you put the pizza?”

They ate pizza, gave Dief the box to lick the scraps out of, shouted at the ref when he was an idiot, shouted some more at the players when they were bigger idiots, and argued with each other when the ad breaks came on. It was bizarrely normal apart from that Ray’s thigh was warm where Fraser’s was pressed against it, and that Fraser’s thumb was stroking over Ray’s knuckles, and that as the game went on he managed to get closer and closer until parts of Ray’s right side were going slightly numb from the pressure.

It took Ray a while to work out what was different about their conversation, such as it was, until he heard Fraser swap one word for another for the third time in as many minutes. Then he took a closer look at Fraser, and realised that his face was the same kind of relaxed as it was just before he fell asleep on Ray’s sofa on the rare weekends he stayed late enough for that. This was Fraser without a filter between his brain and his mouth, Ray realised; or at least, that was part of what was going on. Instead of thinking about what he was going to say before he said it, he was just spilling out whatever was on his mind.

Sternly, Ray reminded himself that he had no idea what the drug was doing to Fraser’s mind _before_ it came up with things to say. 

“What is it, Ray?” Fraser asked, and Ray blinked, realising he’d been staring at Fraser for the past however many minutes.

“Uh...” He focussed, and was rescued by his quick observational skills. “You have tomato sauce on your face.”

“Oh? Where?”

Ray pointed to the side of his own mouth. “Right there.”

Fraser produced a hanky and dabbed at the wrong side. “There?”

“No, you big lug, the other side. Here, let me-” He was halfway to reaching out to get it for Fraser, when he stopped and narrowed his eyes at Fraser. A second later, the twitch of a smile on Fraser’s mouth bloomed into a grin. “Oh, you are sneaky,” Ray said, wagging a finger and leaning back, while Fraser wiped the spot clean with perfect accuracy.

“Can’t blame me for trying, Ray,” Fraser said with a shrug.

“Mounties aren’t supposed to be sneaky, especially when they’re high, or whatever you are at the moment,” Ray half-grumbled. In all honesty, it was a hell of a treat to see Fraser trying to use underhanded tactics, but he had to at least put on a show of disapproval if he had any hope of discouraging Fraser.

“On the contrary, Mounties can be perfectly sneaky when required. I just rarely apply the principles of deception to my personal life.”

Ray almost told him that it was a good thing, because he’d have no hope of holding out against Fraser if that was the case, but decided it would be unwise to give Fraser that sort of information at the moment. Instead, he reached for the remote, and flicked through the channels until he found a decent movie.

“You thirsty, Fraser?” he asked, remembering what Ms Vedreen had said about drinking plenty.

“Not really, Ray.”

“Didn’t think so. Stay there, I’ll get us both some water.”

Ray made Fraser drink it by withholding snuggling rights until Fraser finished his glass. Yeah, that’s right, he could be sneaky, too. Then he ignored the way Fraser looked up at him pleadingly, and refilled the glasses before setting them down on the coffee table. 

He paid for the trick when he sat down again, ending up with a very determined Fraser rearranging him so that he could be used as a substitute for a sofa cushion. Somehow Fraser managed to shuffle down enough that he could rest his head against Ray’s chest, drag Ray’s arm around his shoulders, and put his own across Ray’s waist. It didn’t look all that comfortable, but Fraser’s hand curled around Ray’s hip, and he rubbed his cheek against Ray’s jumper with a sigh, then settled down. 

With an armful of warm, solid Fraser, Ray gave in, hugged him close, and held him while they watched the film. If he let his head drop so that his chin rested against Fraser’s head, and once in a while he drew in a deep breath so that he could smell Fraser, well, he figured it couldn’t hurt either of them more than anything else they were doing.

By the time the film finished, Ray had somewhat guiltily cajoled Fraser into drinking both glasses of water with the promise of not making Fraser go to bed once it was done. The irony of the early-to-bed, early-to-rise poster-boy choosing to stay up late was not lost on Ray. Neither was the confirmation that Fraser’s judgement was far from its usual standards at the moment.

“Alright, Benny, bathroom break,” Ray said firmly as the credits rolled. “You’ve been wriggling for the past twenty minutes. Don’t even think about denying it, it’s very distracting.”

“Well you were the one who made me drink all that water, Ray” Fraser pointed out, but he did get up. “You’ve only yourself to blame.”

“Yeah, you’ll thank me for it in the morning.”

“Probably,” Fraser agreed, and strode for the bathroom.

“You’ll thank me for a lot in the morning,” Ray said quietly as the bathroom door closed. Then he shook himself out of his moping, refilled the water glasses again, petted Dief when he went to lie down under the kitchen table, and sat back down to wait for Fraser to return.

“So,” Fraser said when he came back. Looking up at where Fraser stood watching him, Ray wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw just a little more alertness in Fraser’s eyes now. Only a little though, and he really couldn’t be sure, so he was going to carry on under the assumption that Fraser was still just as much under the influence as he had been earlier.

“So,” Ray agreed. “You don’t want to sleep, but there’s nothing on tv. What do you want to do?”

Fraser licked his lips.

“Not that,” Ray said. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Spoilsport,” Fraser said, without heat. “We could talk. That’s what we would have done if you hadn’t been at work today.”

“Very true,” Ray agreed. “You gonna sit down?”

“No,” Fraser decided. Eyeing up the sofa, he evidently decided that it was up to whatever purpose he had in mind, which turned out to be sitting on the arm with his back to Ray, and then letting himself fall backwards so that his head was in Ray’s lap and his legs were dangling over the edge. “Hi,” he said, grinning up at Ray.

“Hi,” Ray said back, fighting to hold back his own smile. Fraser’s hair had flopped over his forehead during the swift movement, and there was a flush in his cheeks, too. Loose-limbed and soft, he lay there, and Ray gave in to the need to touch for a moment. “Were you like this as a kid?” he asked, reaching down to brush the hair away, and then putting his hands back where they belonged.

“Maybe.” Fraser shrugged. “I really don’t remember.”

Evidently deciding that Ray’s hands were not actually where they should be, he reached above his head to find them, and Ray gave them to him before Fraser’s hands could wander too far. Fraser placed one of them in his hair, which Ray took to mean that he should probably stroke it or something, and kept the other one to draw down to his chest so he could play with Ray’s fingers.

For a moment, Ray almost asked Fraser exactly what his childhood _was_ like, before he remembered that Fraser would most likely give him an honest answer. Which he wanted, but not like this. So instead he ran his fingers through Fraser’s hair, combing it back from his forehead and getting rid of the few almost-tangles it was now just long enough to get. Then he did it again, rubbing his fingers against Fraser’s scalp, and Fraser sighed, eyes drifting half-shut as Ray carried on.

“Got any Inuit stories which relate to this situation?” Ray murmured quietly.

A smile touched Fraser’s lips. “None specifically, Ray. But there are plenty of tales the world-over about magic and romance.”

“Tell me some about magic.”

So Fraser did, and it turned out that all the ones about magic had romance in them, too, or at least all of the ones which Fraser was telling him. They all had happy endings, too, and Ray couldn’t bring himself to ask Fraser to stop. Neither could he stop himself from being drawn in, what with Fraser’s head pushing into his touch every time Ray rubbed just right, and how Fraser’s hands were warm and strong around his own, stroking along each of Ray’s fingers, catching them when they twitched, thumbs pressing into Ray’s palm to work out aches that he hadn’t even realised were there. As Fraser weaved his stories in the dim room, he twined his fingers with Ray’s, until Ray couldn’t work out how to loosen them even if he wanted to, and he so very much didn’t want to.

When moonlight shone in through a crack in the blinds, and Fraser’s voice cracked as he slipped from one story to the next, Ray looked over at the glowing numbers on the VCR player and blinked when he saw it was way past midnight. He shouldn’t have let Fraser carry on for so long, he thought, as he looked back and found that Fraser’s eyes were almost completely closed now, tiredness showing in the lines on his face even as he continued talking. 

Even now, Ray didn’t want to say anything, because once he stopped Fraser, that was it. No guarantee that any of this would happen again, not even any guarantee that Fraser would want to speak to him in the morning.

But he had to leave that up to Fraser. And that meant stopping him now.

“Benny,” he said softly. “Hey, Benny.”

Slowly, Fraser’s eyes opened and he stopped talking. “Yes, Ray?”

“Time to go to bed, Benny.”

Regret crossed Fraser’s face. “I was hoping you weren’t going to notice that.”

“You knew how late it was?”

Fraser’s shoulders pressed against Ray’s thigh as he shrugged. “My sense of time is quite accurate, Ray.”

“Yeah.” Ray wasn’t sure whether it made him feel better, or worse, that Fraser was equally as reluctant for this evening to end. “C’mon, up, before my leg goes numb.”

They managed to stand together, legs protesting at movement when they’d been still for the last few hours. In the dark, they looked at each other, and Ray watched as Fraser watched him.

“Ray,” Fraser said.

“Yes, Fraser?”

Fraser paused for a moment. “Do I get a bedtime kiss?”

Ray closed his eyes, because he’d told himself he wasn’t going to do this, but Fraser had hesitated before asking and alright he was tired, they both were, but his stories had gone from loosely put-together sentences two hours ago, to carefully-crafted tales taking shape in the dark a few minutes ago. A Fraser who could tell stories like that was definitely the Fraser who Ray knew. Not quite there, still soft around the edges where Fraser was usually firm, but close enough.

“One,” Ray said, opening his eyes. He planted his hand on Fraser’s chest before Fraser could move forwards. “Just one. And you keep your hands above the waist.”

“Alright,” Fraser agreed, and the second Ray eased off the pressure, he stepped right into Ray’s space, one arm sliding around Ray’s shoulders while he lifted his hand to the back of Ray’s head, and then he was leaning in to press his mouth to Ray’s. With a groan, Ray grabbed at Fraser’s shirt to pull him closer, and worked his hand into Fraser’s hair again, opening his mouth and closing his eyes, kissing Fraser back as good as he got. All his insistences of ‘just one’ and ‘hands above the waist’ did nothing to lessen the impact, because Fraser made it good, drew him into the moment as fully as he had for the last few hours, made it everything Ray had wanted and more, and there was no way he was going to recover from this.

Their breaths rasped loud in the quiet when Fraser finally let up, and neither of them were steady on their feet.

“Where the hell did you learn to kiss like that?” Ray said before he was thinking clearly. Then he shook his head. “Don’t answer that. Go to bed, Benny. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Whether Fraser saw how close to Ray was to not knowing what to do, or whether he was simply too tired to argue, Fraser nodded and headed for the bedroom without resistance. “Good night, Ray. And... thank you.”

Ray didn’t ask for what. He just grabbed a blanket, stripped out of his jeans, and spread himself out onto the sofa to hoard the remainder of the evening’s warmth before he passed out.

\-- -- -- -- --

On what he thought was probably Sunday morning, Fraser awoke in a strange bed with the sense that it was much later than he was used to being up at, a confusing certainty that he should have a headache, and an uneasy feeling in his stomach. A moment later, his pain-free head unleashed its memories of the day and evening before, including the reason that he currently did not have a headache. 

The warmth of the memories was short-lived. Crashing on the heels of them came the cold realisation that Fraser had taken shameless advantage of Ray’s offer to look after him. Under the influence or not, Fraser should have known better.

There was a whine outside the bedroom door, followed by the sound of Dief scratching at the bottom of it. Fraser closed his eyes as he heard the low murmur of Ray’s voice, and hoped against hope that he would be allowed just a few more minutes to compose himself. 

It was not to be.

“He awake, Dief?” An affirmative bark. “Hey, Benny, wakey wakey rise and shine. I got breakfast waiting out here.”

“I’ll, ah, be out in a minute, Ray,” Fraser called back, attempting to sound as normal as Ray did. Then he breathed through the dread, and forced himself to get up. Apparently he’d gone to sleep in his clothes the night before, so the only thing to do was to pull his boots on and attempt to smooth his hair down. He was largely unsuccessful in the latter, but It didn’t really matter. All he had to do was apologise to Ray and then leave; it wasn’t as if he needed to be particularly presentable for the walk home.

Hand on the doorknob, Fraser tried to remember where he’d put his jacket the night before, but most of his memories were of Ray, holding him, talking to him, lying on the sofa with Ray’s hand gentle in his hair and his smile fond when he looked down at Fraser.

He was being your _friend_ , Fraser reminded himself sternly.

Never mind about the jacket. If it wasn’t by the door, he’d leave without it. The cold would do him good.

Fraser’s plans to sidle towards the front door before Ray noticed were foiled by the fact that both Ray and Dief were waiting for him when he came out of the bedroom.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ray said as Fraser tried to push Dief towards the door, and although Ray looked nervous, he looked even more determined. “We need to talk.”

Fraser sighed. Dief stopped jumping up at him, and padded over to lie by the window, leaving Fraser and Ray with nothing between them. “I know,” Fraser said. It had been cowardly to think he could avoid it. “I owe you an apology, Ray.”

Ray shook his head, and looked as if Fraser had said something completely lacking in sense. “ _You_ owe _me_ an apology?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

"I took advantage of you.”

Ray opened his mouth, then closed it, and spread his hands out in frustration. “Are we remembering the same night, Benny? Explain to me how you took advantage of me, ‘cause I gotta tell you, I’m not seeing it.”

“You offered to look after me when I was under the influence of that potion, and I let you. My actions following that were far from appropriate.”

Ray’s hands lowered, and he gave Fraser that look that said Fraser was being an idiot. “Benny,” Ray said softly, taking a step closer. “You didn’t exactly do anything too un-Fraser-like. Besides, I knew what I was getting myself in for, and it wasn’t as if you were entirely in control of yourself.”

“Maybe not at the beginning,” Fraser said, quietly, and looked away, because he didn’t want to see Ray’s face when he worked out that Fraser had been almost back to himself for that second kiss.

“Oh, I was so hoping you were going to say that,” Ray said.

Fraser’s head shot up. Ray was grinning at him, which made no sense.

“I kissed you, Ray,” Fraser reminded him.

“Yes you did, Benny.”

“For quite a long time,” Fraser added.

Ray nodded. “I know. I was there.”

Now it was Fraser’s turn to get agitated. “I don’t understand how you’re so calm about this, Ray. You should be furious. You invited me into your home, looked after me for the whole evening, and I repaid you by taking advantage of-”

“My willingness to kiss you?”

“Exactly! I’m glad you under-” Fraser stopped. “Your what?”

“I wanted to kiss you, Fraser.”

“You did?”

“I did.” Ray frowned, and then said, “Wait a minute, _that’s_ what’s been worrying you? You think I didn’t want to do any of the stuff we did last night?”

Fraser nodded, and offered an explanation that he rather thought was redundant, judging by the way Ray was looking at him. “Well, I was concerned, yes. A lack of a ‘no’ is not a ‘yes’, and I thought that your offer to let me be, er, physically demonstrative was out of concern for my well-being.”

Ray’s smile was back, warmth chasing away Fraser’s fears that he had ruined their relationship irreparably. “Only partly, Benny. And I appreciate your consideration, but I promise you, if I hadn’t wanted to then I would’ve told you to go snuggle with Dief instead.”

Dief gave an indignant woof, and Fraser finally smiled. “Thank you, Ray.”

Ray smiled back and then looked worried again, just as Fraser was working up the nerve to ask if they might have another go at the kiss.

“Look, Benny, I gotta ask, just to make sure... But last night, everything you said and did, it wasn’t just because you were on something? Ms Vedreen said it was a love potion, but she wouldn’t tell me what it did, and I was kinda worried that maybe it was messing with your head, making you feel things which you wouldn’t usually. So if that was it then you know you can tell me, right, and I won’t hold you to anything?”

Fraser reached out to grab Ray’s dangerously wandering arm before it could damage someone. “No, Ray, that’s not what it did. I meant everything I said, and I didn’t do anything that I haven’t previously wanted to do. I just...” He searched for how to describe the lack of doubt he’d felt last night, the certainty that he was supposed to be with Ray. “It never occurred to me to worry that you might turn me down,” he said eventually. “It made it a lot easier to express myself.”

“No-one in their right mind would turn you down, Benny,” Ray said with a shake of his head. “Least of all me,” he added, and Fraser breathed out, because that’s what he’d wanted to hear, _needed_ to hear to reassure him that he and Ray were definitely on the same page.

“So,” Ray said, eyeing Fraser hopefully. “Wanna try that kiss again?”

Fraser pretended to consider, even though his heart was beating faster and his hands curled around Ray’s arms to pull him closer. “Are you going to limit me to just one?”

“Are you kidding?” Ray replied, and wriggled himself some leeway without moving his body away from Fraser’s. “I’m taking as many as I can get.”

Fraser meant to reply to that, but then Ray’s lips brushed against his, and he forgot all about it. “Ray,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Ray, noting absently that Ray was wearing the same beautifully soft jumper he’d had on last night, fitted tight enough that Fraser could feel Ray’s heat beneath it.

“I got you, Benny,” Ray murmured against his mouth, and then kissed him again, properly this time, his hands curving around Fraser’s face to stroke at his cheeks, slide into his hair, pull him closer and hold him there while his mouth moved over Fraser’s, soft and careful and thorough, until Fraser’s legs were weak and his breath fast, and he felt like he could stay wrapped up in and around Ray forever.

“Wait,” he got out when Ray eventually drew back. “I need...”

“Not going anywhere,” Ray said, and he didn’t sound much more in control than Fraser felt, but he rubbed the back of Fraser’s neck while Fraser shook, and pressed his mouth to Fraser’s jaw, his nose, his forehead, murmured soothing words and let Fraser lean on Ray until he felt like he could stand on his own again. Ray didn’t make him let go though, just asked, “Better?”

Fraser nodded, dropping his head onto Ray’s shoulder and breathing him in for a moment, before he raised it and looked Ray in the eye. “The little girl who gave me the potion said I looked lonely,” he told Ray.

“Yeah, well, not any more,” Ray replied, in a tone of voice that left no room for doubt, and Fraser felt his heart warm.

“She also said that it would help me find the person I love.”

Ray’s hand tightened around Fraser’s neck, and surprise tinged his tone as he asked, “You love me, Benny?”

With a nod, Fraser squeezed Ray probably a little too tight, and replied, “Of course, Ray.”

A smile lit Ray’s face, and he squeezed Fraser right back. “Love you, too, Benny,” he said, and let out a laugh. “How long do you think it would have taken us to get around to saying that if you hadn’t taken half a bottle of magic liquid?”

Fraser shrugged. “We would have got around to it eventually.”

“Yeah, well, I for one am glad we didn’t have to wait, or I was gonna spend months moping.”

“Moping?”

“Yeah, and if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll make you sleep on the sofa every time you come round, alright?”

“If you say so, Ray,” Fraser murmured, and distracted him with another kiss. As methods of stopping bickering went, it was one he hoped to employ on a regular basis from now on. He didn’t think Ray would mind.

Ray didn’t. In fact he actively encouraged it, sometimes even when they were at the station.

Fraser gained a new appreciation for the uses of storage cupboards.


End file.
